It had to be done
by garb50
Summary: Elias, thinking about Carter and his plans. I'm fascinated by this character (and admire Enrico Colantoni, who plays him as a distinguished gentleman with a strong air of danger). After Ep 3-10, "The Devil's Share" I wanted to dive a bit more into Elias' thoughts. Heartful thanks to ImaginaryNumber for beeing my beta reader. And no, of course I don't own POI. Spoiler up to Ep3-10


An excellent wine. The same one I recently offered Detective Carter. She appreciated it.

She is dead now. What a waste. She was such a talented and attractive woman. And such an honest one at that. She never lost sight of her goals, never wavered on her path, never relented, and always saw right through to the core of what was important.  
She was much like myself in that regard, though I must admit that I did not see her this way at first. But when she was all that stood between me and my enemies - the Mafia bosses - it all became clear to me.

When she first entered my game, she was just another cop-piece on the chessboard. Then she surprised me by risking her son's life in the name of her integrity. Not that I really would have killed the boy - I do not lay hands on children - but she could not have known that. She had actually relied on John that day. I had to respect her courage and her strong nerves.

Later on, she freed me from the transport, from prison - to save my life. Very surprising, again. Another act of unusual courage; she acted on her own sense of justice. That, too, earned her my respect and my sympathy. The sympathy was unrequited, but I think she at least appreciated that I am a man of principles and realized that she was better off with me than she'd have been with the Russian mafia.

I think she understood that my rule would make this city a more peaceful place. Her and I, we both knew that there had to be principles. Rules. We both despised HR for that very reason. They did not have principles, and had she not taken them down, I would have done it eventually.  
She followed the rules of civilization. The rules I follow are more primal in nature, but we could have complemented each other. Two sturdy pillars which everything in this city could have been be based on.

I realized at a young age that society's laws were not for me. They never protected me and they did not protect my mother, either. I will never forget how helpless and alone I felt after her death. I never want to experience such a loss again. I believed for a while that I had found my place with my father, Don Gianni Moretti. That I could be a part of his family. How he deceived me! He wanted to kill me. MY FATHER wanted to kill me. Like he had my mother killed because she was a burden to him. This wonderful woman.

Then, just like now, I had to take it upon myself to serve justice, and spared no trouble. I wanted the killer, De Luca, to be executed with the same knife with which he had killed my mother. That had been the perfect form of justice, and not just another murder. I appreciated the fatefulness in this act. It honoured my mother's death.

No father, no mother, no brother. It was hard to deal with loneliness as a child, but I've learned to live with it. Today I know that it is my strength to not need anyone, not dependent on anyone. I am the master of my fate.

Others want wealth, women, fame. I don't. Power is the thing that counts, I learned this early. I want power and order. My order. This silly greed for wealth, for material things, makes people so careless and vulnerable.

If there is one thing that I love, it is a game of chess against a worthy opponent. Analyzing him. Luring him into a trap. Taking advantage of his wants and desires.

My life has been hard, but it taught me how to survive and how to be successful. I have learned to plan and to organize carefully. I always have a 'plan B' up my sleeve and, if necessary, a 'plan C', and I always have a good man executing it. Like my man Toni, who prefers his nickname "Scarface".

My chess partner, Mr. Crane, also has a good man: John. Scarface had wanted to take John out of circulation from the very beginning. That would certainly have simplified things, temporarily. But what a waste of talent and skills that would have been! That's how the old men handled business. No, I have no qualms about killing - no children, of course - but I kill strictly out of necessity, and not for fun, nor without thought. I do not make such decisions before I can see the whole picture. I'm more careful and foresighted. I am patient.

I respect people who excel at what they do. People such as Carter, as well as John, Scarface and myself. Scarface may have some faults, but he is quick and clean and reliable. He is the closest thing to a friend I have. After he was shot and in danger at the hospital, unable to defend himself, I of course protected him. My men can always count on me.

I wish I could have protected Detective Carter. I owed her and the least I could do now was settle the debt. I always pay my debts. It's a question of honour and self-respect. I am not a cruel man, but things must be made right. There must be a balance. An eye for an eye - no more, no less. I am very archaic that way. Simmons had to be killed after he killed Carter. Anything else would have been untenable. And I was the only one who could do it. It was practically my destiny. Simmons and I lived in the same system, outside the rules of civilization. At least he knew what he had gotten himself into and he had to know that the feds would not be able to protect him.  
I left him to Scarface. Doing it myself would have honoured someone like Simmons unduly.

Now that Carter and Simmons and HR are dead, a new game begins. The chess pieces are newly set and I have to make new plans. We'll see ...

* * *

Thanks for reading (and also comments). I hope that we learn more about Elias in later episodes and it will be exciting to see what consequences he draws from the new situation.


End file.
